S M Krishna's recent meet with Muslim Brotherhood chief speaks volumes
HORIZONS BY DR.SHEIKH SHOWKAT HUSSAIN
During his trip to Egypt, Indian Foreign minister, S M Krishna made it a
point to meet the chief of Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. This is a
symbolic gesture in pursuit of coming to terms with emerging realities
of the Muslim world. But facts which confront the globe in general and
India in particular demand that these endeavors should go beyond
symbolism. Ever since Muslim world was overtaken by the West in the era
of colonization it triggered divergent trends among Muslims. Those who
perceived Western imperialism to be a new manifestation of old
Alexandrian dream of the globe under Western superiority opted an
approach of absolute rejection towards everything Western. There were
others who understood ascendance of the West as a logical consequence of
the renaissance and wanted a similar process within Muslim community.
They wanted the Muslim world to imbibe positives of the West in order to
match it. The former approach was symbolized by Jamal din Afghani
internationally and Deoband locally. Present day Taliban remain a
vestige of this thought. The latter approach remained the guiding
principle of Aligarh movement led by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Both these
approaches suffered from a deficit of deeper understanding of the West
and can be described as knee jerk reactions to an unanticipated
domination of the colonial powers. Turkey the seat of Ottoman Khilafat
under Kamal Ataturk became laboratory for experimentation of the second
approach.
Both the rejectionist and the positive approaches however
metamorphosed into a new response which had better understanding of the
West as well as Islam in the thought process of Sir Muhammad Iqbal. He
evaluated the Western thought process and identified the areas that
could be opted and the areas which didn't suit the basic tenants of
Islamic Civilization. Iqbal represented a matured synthesis of previous
two approaches. Essence of his thought was for renaissance of ummah
within the framework of original sources of Islam and reinterpreting the
same in context of space and time of modern era. Thoughts of Iqbal
however remained poetic abstractions. Rashid Ridah advocated similar
ideas through his Almanar in the Arab World. Essence of this thought
process was developed in the form of systematic doctrine by Abul Ala
Maudoodi in the sub continent and Hassan al Bana in Egypt.
They laid
down the foundation of two simultaneous Islamic movements based on
revival of the spirit of ijtihad (reinterpretation) and jihad (efforts
for implementation). The thought of Ikhwan and Jamaa’t catalyzed similar
movements in other parts of the Muslim world. Ideology of these
remained same. The thrust of these movements however, to a great extent
was oriented by the local situations which they confronted. For quite
some time they were not taken seriously by the global powers. At times
however, they were perceived as tools of fighting the rival ideology
during cold war era. Soviets and Chinese were positive towards Iranian
revolutionaries perceiving them to be their own instruments in letting
down a pro -Western regime of Raza Shah Phalvi. The West too was
supportive of Islamists while they were fighting the regimes owing
allegiance to socialist Ideology. During cold war most of the dictators
in Middle East were in proximity of Soviets. It was logical for the West
to be positive towards any opposition against them. This proximity
reached to its climax during Afghan war.
Arab Spring has made it
clear that Islam as an ideology and the way of life has become a
dominant discourse and a force within the Muslim world. Turkey is
abandoning Kamalism and is in process of rediscovering its Ottoman &
Islamic roots.
India can' t remain indifferent to this
emerging reality. Meeting of Krishna with Muslim Brotherhood chief must
be seen in this backdrop. The question however remains whether this
symbolic effort will suffice to understand and deal with this
phenomenon. Whatever be estimation of the Indian foreign office
skepticism is likely to dominate the relations between India and Islamic
Middle East despite these gestures. There are historic, domestic &
strategic reasons for it. Indian proximity with Israel & Indo-Pak
friction always remains factor in Indo-Arab relations. With ascendance
of resurgent Islam this arena is likely to assume extra importance.
Kashmir & Communal riots in Inia have remained focus of Islamic
Movements across the globe. One can't overlook shadow of these over
relations between India & Arab world ruled by Islamists. Relation
between the state and Islamic Movements within India too is a potential
factor in this domain. No one should expect India to be perceived as
friend by Islamists overseas while it remains vindictive to groups
professing the same ideology domestically. Recession of minority
development index (MDI) & honeymoon of India with Jamal Abdul Nasser
while he was executing Muslim Brotherhood leadership remain two other
potential impediments in the way of a trust worthy relationship between
resurgent Islam & India.
After demise of communism as a
political power and end of the cold war, world has plunged in to new
confrontation between resurgent Islam & the West. Krishna is trying
to sail through these troubled waters. Why can’t India adopt positive
approach towards resurgent Islam and sail through this war fare as well?
Prior to taking any policy initiative Indian state needs to address the
potential irritants enumerated above.
Published in Greater Kashmir dated 29 March, 2012
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